2. Write an essay about the Modern Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, News services, and wire services

Newspapers: Some new-s are serious and some are more for entertainment. Most new-s have become part of big business enterprise today. Many new-s in many countries are owned by large media corporations such as that of “media mogul” Rupert Murdoch. Workers in England often read a tabloid that is controlled and run by Murdoch, but which gives little news and generally supports the political and business establishment. This may entertain while failing to impart any political or social consciousness in the workers. It helps to keep workers docile and ignorant. News in such papers is very light with little or no opinion and no in depth coverage. Kibris in North Cyprus, owned by Asil Nadir, is also this type of paper. It exploits the semi-nude photo of woman to encourage sales and increase profits. On the other hand, some tabloids are serious new-s that project particular political points of view and try to educate the reader.

In the US the more serious new-s are the large circulation daily papers such as the NYT, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. The NYT is sometimes called the “paper of record”. It is considered to be authoritative in the “facts” that it reports in its front-page stories. However, while these are serious new-s, and provide much information on politics and global events, it has been shown that they basically serve the needs of the government and big business, as discussed above. They are disproportionately read by an elite in business, the government, academics, and so on.

Most people see local new-s published in their home towns. Many of these are actually owned by the NYT, or big media corporations like Knight-Ridder or Gannet. What news there is in them comes from local reporters and from wire services. There may be some opinion pieces from national syndicates, and some local opinion and letters from readers.

Radio: Like newspapers, radio isn’t what it used to be. Now there companies own half of America’s radio stations. Clear Channel Communications alone controls more than 1.200 stations, programmed from its headquarters with homogenized news and no local content, not even tornado warning. Between the two world wars, however, radio was popular, and radio news, comments, and political addresses – such as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous “fireside chats”, which served as models for both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan – were quite influential. With the rise of television in the 1950s, radio became less important. With two exceptions. Popular “talk radio” shows, often hosted by angry right-wingers, reinforce conservative views. Reinforcing liberal views, the radio magazine “All Things Considered” on National Public Radio offers world events, economics, politics, and critical opinions.

New services: Most hard news in newspapers and on radio , and even a good deal of television’s news is not produced in-house but comes from a printer hooked up to the NY offices of The Associated Press (AP), hence the old-fashioned name wire service. The elite newspapers dislain wire-service copy, as it is matter of pride for them to have their own repoerters cover the story. But most papers in America are little more than ocal outlets for the AP, which provides them with photos, sports coverage, even recipes, as well as news. Often, editors on small town papers read just the first two paragraphs, so that they can write a headline, and slap the stories into their papers nearly at random.

The AP is a cooperative, with members paying assessments based on their circulation. They also contribute copies of local stories to the AP, which may rewrite them for nationwide transmission. The AP is one of the few news services not owned, subsidized, controlled, or supervision, as does Germany’s DPA; and China’s Xin Hua is wholly a creature of Beijing. U Press International (UPI) used to complete with AP, but now Rev, Sun Myung Moon, a conservative and eccentric Korean millionaire, owns UPL, which is a shadow of its former self.

No government controls the AP, but it has other problems that limit its quality and influence. First, it moves fast; every minute is deadline. This means it does no digging; its stories are superficial. Second, the wire services’ definition of news is something from an official source. Wire-service stories are carefully attributed to police, the White House, the State Department or Pentagon, and so on. If it’s not official, it’s not news. This causes the wire services to miss many explosive situations in the world because they don’t report on opposition people, average citizens in the street, or merchants in the bazaar, who might have a completely different – and sometimes more accurate – perspective than official spokespersons. The American news media failed to notice the coming of the Iranian revolution for this reason. Often the best news stories are not about a key event or statement but about what people are saying and thinking, which is rarely covered.